No. 1 Georgia will battle No. 3 TCU in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday in a highly anticipated tilt featuring the undefeated SEC powerhouse Bulldogs and the Big 12‘s red-hot Horned Frogs.
Here are the numbers to know ahead of the action.
Georgia
1: Georgia is aiming to become the first team in the CFP era to win back-to-back national championships.
3: Georgia is aiming to become just the third FBS team in the modern era to cap a perfect 15-0 season with a national title, joining Clemson (2018) and LSU (2019).
14: The 2022 season marks the first time Georgia has started a season 14-0. The Bulldogs have tied the school record for wins in a season with 14 after Kirby Smart’s squad also accomplished the feat in 2021 en route to a 14-1 season and its first national championship in 41 years.
16: Georgia has won 16 straight games going back to last season’s CFP semifinal win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl. The school record is 17 wins in a row set from 1945-47.
39: Georgia is third nationally with 39 rushing touchdowns. The school record is 42, which was set in 2017. Eight different Bulldogs have scored a rushing touchdown this year.
28-3: Quarterback Stetson Bennett is 28-3 as a starter and has completed 64.9% of his passes (583-for-898) for 8,124 yards, 62 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in his college career.
56: Tight end Brock Bowers, a Rotary Lombardi Award finalist, is the Bulldogs’ leader with 56 catches for a team-high 790 yards and six touchdowns. Bowers is the only player in the country this season with both a rushing and receiving score of at least 75 yards. Bowers has had six 100-yard receiving games in his career.
Can Brock Bowers and Georgia overpower TCU?
4-1: The Bulldogs’ record in the CFP in Smart’s seventh season at the helm.
4-0: Georgia holds a 4-0 series lead against TCU. The Bulldogs won both games (1980 and 1988) in Athens, Georgia, as well as taking a victory over the Horned Frogs in both the 1942 Orange Bowl and the 2016 Liberty Bowl.
39.4: The number of points Georgia is averaging per game, which is ninth nationally. The Bulldogs are 75-of-77 in the red zone — a national leading 97% — this year with 52 touchdowns and 23 field goals. What’s more, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 551-207 this season, including 303-98 in the opening half.
27: Georgia has registered 27 scores on defense and special teams under Smart. The Bulldogs are 24-1 (loss came versus No. 8 Florida in 2020) when they register a non-offensive score under Smart.
14.8: Georgia ranks fifth nationally in Scoring Defense, giving up just 14.8 points per contest. The Bulldogs defense has posted 26 scoreless quarters, including holding five teams scoreless in the opening half this season.
27: Georgia is allowing teams to convert on third downs only 27% of the time, which ranks second nationally. On the other side, Georgia leads the nation with an 84% conversion rate on fourth down (12-for-14).
47: Georgia is minus-2 in turnover margin. The Bulldogs have 47 points off 13 turnovers.
TCU’s Offense vs. Georgia’s defense
TCU
1: TCU is the first Big 12 team to win a CFP game and is making its first national championship appearance. TCU is playing in Los Angeles for the first time since the 2011 Rose Bowl, when they defeated Wisconsin to cap a 13-0 season and finish with a No. 2 national ranking.
5: TCU and Georgia are meeting for just the fifth time and first since the 2016 Liberty Bowl, when the Bulldogs won 31-23 in Smart’s first season as head coach. TCU is also aiming to become just the fifth team — and first since Michigan State in 1962 — to win a national championship after having a losing record the previous season.
3: TCU is just the third team since 1998 to play in a national title game after being unranked in the preseason AP poll. TCU is the first school from the state of Texas to make the CFP and just the second team (Michigan, 2021) to be in the CFP after starting the season unranked.
575: TCU has the nation’s sixth-most improved offense in points per game this season (+12.4 from 2021). TCU’s 575 points this season rank second in program history (604 points in 2014).
17: Max Duggan’s 17 touchdown passes of at least 20 yards trail only Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud (18) among Power 5 quarterbacks. Duggan has accounted for three or more touchdowns in nine games this season.
Will Max Duggan lead the TCU offense to victory against Georgia?
1,399: Kendre Miller’s 1,399 yards are the most by a TCU running back since LaDainian Tomlinson led the nation with 2,158 in 2000. Miller has topped 100 yards in seven of his last 12 games and ranks first nationally among active Power 5 players in career yards per carry (6.7 yards, min. 350 attempts).
100: Quentin Johnston has topped 100 receiving yards in each of his last two games, averaging 30.2 yards per catch in the process. Johnston is TCU’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Jalen Reagor (1,061) in 2018 and his 59 receptions are the most by a Horned Frog since Reagor had 72 that same year.
19.1: Johnston’s 19.1 career yards per catch average is second among active FBS players, trailing only Oklahoma’s Marvin Mims (19.5 yards).
34.5: TCU is only allowing a 34.5% third-down conversion rate for the season, ranking fourth in the Big 12 and 36th in the nation. TCU opponents are just 22-of-85 (25.9%) on third-down conversions the past six games.
54-6: TCU’s record in its last 60 games with at least three takeaways, the latest being against Michigan.
13: The number of turnovers TCU has had this season. TCU ranks second in the Big 12 and 20th nationally in turnover margin at 0.64.
6: TCU’s six wins over ranked opponents ties Tennessee for the national lead
21: TCU tops the nation with 21 plays of 50-plus yards, 14 offensive touchdowns of at least 50 yards and 10 scoring plays of at least 60 yards. The Horned Frogs are also first in the FBS with 17 total touchdowns of 50-plus yards as well as 12 overall scores of at least 60 yards.
2: TCU is one of only two FBS teams averaging at least 250 yards per game passing, 200 rushing and have at least 30 passing and 30 rushing touchdowns.
TCU vs. Georgia – David vs. Goliath?
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